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Homes of America one year later

Charles Crane/MDN Holiday Park residents who own their trailers saw their lot rent increase more than 50%.

The residents of three Minot area manufactured home parks (Parkview MHP, Western Village, MHP, and Holiday Park MHP), have endured one bout of confusion and controversy after another ever since their communities were purchased by out-of-state company Homes of America, LLC.

Initially purchased at the end of 2021, residents have dealt with communication struggles and issues with management during the transition. This evolved into genuine upset and concern after the new owners delivered notices announcing what many described as excessive increases to their lot rents. The lot rent increases brought all three parks up to $695, the most expensive rates in Minot.

Residents who bristled at the increased lot rent also grew fed up with communication issues created by the revolving door of local managers, leading many of those who were able to sell or move their homes to other communities.

The issues experienced by the three Minot parks are not unique and, in fact, have been manifesting among dozens of such communities owned by Homes of America LLC across the country. The reach of The Minot Daily News’ coverage of the lot rent increases and HOA extended across the country as other communities owned by the company found themselves in much the same situation.

One of them was Valeria Steele from a community in Princeton, West Virginia who received increase notices around the same time as the Minot parks. Another was Sarah Rupp, a teacher’s aide from Viriginia who found out many the families of many of her students lived in the Massie mobile home and were facing eviction. While going door to door to sign up residents for legal aid, a woman pulled up one of The Minot Daily News’ articles.

Both Rupp and Steele could find little information on the Internet to make sense of the confusing web of LLCs and registered agents masking who exactly owned the ground beneath the homes in their respective communities. Fortunately, there would be some answers.

Who is Homes of America, LLC?

The mystery surrounding who owns the dozens of HOA parks in Minot, Missouri, Illinois and beyond is clouded by layers of corporate laundering and registrations in Delaware. The results returned by Google often came up grasping at straws and directing people to unrelated companies or the non-profit “Homes for America.” A specific parsing of the search terms did lead to a Linkedin account for a man named Bryon Fields Jr. of Charlotte, North Carolina, who listed his current employment as COO for Homes of America, LLC.

Former employees who have spoken anonymously to The Minot Daily News confirmed that Fields was a primary point of contact with Homes of America, a fact substantiated by another former employee Trina Berry Vannoy from Fenton, Missouri. Vannoy had been managing the Ravinia Estates mobile home community for five years, and lasted only a month after HOA took over.

She recalled a conversation her husband had with Fields, who told them that HOA was in the business of purchasing “distressed properties.”

“We asked him, ‘why would you buy this one, because it’s not distressed?’ Of course, there was no answer for that ever,” Trina said, “I actually called the old owner not too long ago. It’s very sad to still live here and see this happening. It’s something I worked so hard to maintain and improve, and now it looks like this.”

Through public records it was discovered that an address in New Jersey used by the mobile home parks is shared with an investment firm called Smith Management, which as it happens is an address also used by Alden Global Capital. The president of Alden is a former Duke Blue Devil named Heath Freeman, whose name appears on documents filed for communities in Florida that list him as an officer along with Fields and other executives and employees of Smith and Alden.

The Minot Daily News has not been able to make contact with Fields, or anyone listed as an officer for any of the communities in the HOA network. The only statement that Fields has publicly made was in an email to NPR journalist Scott Simon, who quoted Fields as saying, “The dedicated team at Homes of America is committed to creating safe, well-maintained communities that our residents are proud to call home.”

New manager in Minot

The current local property manager for the Homes of America communities in Minot is Stephanie Munos, who previously worked for Meadowlark Homes when it managed Parkview. Since taking the position, the local manager has a new physical office in Parkview, and Munos has moved aggressively to clean up the communities. This has involved removing squatters, abandoned property and cumulated trash.

With the arrival of winter snow management also has begun to ticket and tow unregistered, abandoned or broken-down vehicles from the parks. While there was some consternation and confusion from residents who had gotten used to the limited intervention of prior managers, overall residents have been encouraged by Munos’ proactive efforts and her availability to address their needs and concerns.

When contacted by The Minot Daily News, Munos declined to be interviewed.

Looking ahead to 2023

Given their experience, the residents of Homes of America’s Minot parks have joined a nationwide outcry against the company and its practices. Residents in the Princeton parks, organized by Valeria Steele and represented by Mountain State Justice, recently attempted to initiate a restraining order against HOA through a class action lawsuit but were denied by a circuit court judge. Judge Derek Swope told residents to turn to their legislature saying, “That’s where you need to go. I can’t change the law. They can.”

This issue does have the attention of the North Dakota Legislature, as Homes of America is but one company targeting this particular niche in the real estate market. Kent French of the North Dakota Manufactured Homes Association has been actively working behind the scenes to spread awareness amongst lawmakers and helped search for solutions to the growing number of complaints coming out of the Minot parks.

Residents from Bismarck, Minot and Fargo have also started a chapter of the North American Manufactured Home Owners Association, which has been hosting weekly Zoom meetings to help organize and prepare proposals to bring to the Legislature this winter. The majority of the Minot area legislators contacted by The Minot Daily News voiced concern over the experiences of local residents and stated Bismarck’s Sen. Dick Dever is taking the lead on crafting new legislation.

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